Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)

Alec Baldwin: Bobby DeLaughter

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Quotes 

• [Addressing the jury in summation] 

  Bobby DeLaughter : President John F. Kennedy in his landmark civil rights speech to the nation, delivered on the very night Medgar Evers was murdered, said: "We face a moral crisis as a country and as a people. Those who do nothing are inviting shame, as well as violence. Those who act boldly are recognizing right, as well as reality." Today, thirty years later, I'm asking you twelve ladies and gentlemen to act boldly; to hold this defendant accountable and find him guilty... simply because it is right, it is just, and Lord knows, it is time. Is it ever too late to do the right thing?

• Bobby DeLaughter : I don't see what difference it makes if a man was bushwhacked yesterday, today, or 27 damn years ago. Murder is murder. And it's still my job to bring the son of a bitch to justice. And it's still your job to help me.

  Delamar Dennis : No! I did my job. I testified against the Klan. They shot out my windows, blew up my car, they hunted and harassed me for twenty five years. Don't that get me even for the wrong I done?

  Bobby DeLaughter : We never get even for the wrong we've done.

• [about Medgar Evers' widow pursuing the murder case for decades] 

  Bobby DeLaughter : I think about her keeping this thing alive all this time. Imagine a woman loving a man so much.

  Charlie Crisco : Hell, I can't even get a woman to love me while I'm still alive. You know what I did after my last divorce? I took up golf. A man needs a hobby to occupy his mind, or he'll start doing crazy things like drinking too much, or chasing 26-year-old murder cases across the Mississippi Delta.

• Bobby DeLaughter : Ed Peters is a good man, but as you can see, we simply don't have case. Now, I know you've been living with this thing for a long while, but maybe it's just time you let it go.

  Myrlie Evers : I can understand why you think that, Mr. DeLaughter. For years, I said the same thing to Medgar. "Let it go. Let's get out of Mississippi." Do you know what he said to me? "I don't know if I'm going to Heaven or to Hell, but I'm going from Jackson."

• Bobby DeLaughter : Mr. Beckwith, this is not some deer you brought down; this is a human being.

  Byron De La Beckwith : [seemingly shocked]  Mr. DeLaughter, a deer is a beautiful animal; it's one of God's creatures. I would never kill a deer.

  [coldly] 

  Byron De La Beckwith : A nigger on the other hand. Well, that's another matter entirely.

  Bobby DeLaughter : Are you standing here and admitting to me that you killed Medgar Evers?

  Byron De La Beckwith : [scoffs]  What if I did? It's not like there's anything you or anyone else can do about it, is there?